With winter here and the shortest day upon us, I have found
myself craving and cooking winter comfort food; slow cooked
skirt steak on my days off to make rich pie fillings with
leafy winter greens such as cavolo nero, hearty rich
casseroles to accompany wet parmesan polenta, and even a
“retro” potato, cheddar and chard bake made up of
incredibly wet mashed potatoes containing lots of cream and
well seasoned, then topped with blanched chard and
cheddar…truly delicious hot and bubbling! on a cold
winter’s night. But back to risottos, I’ve always been a
pretty good risotto maker, my friend Lisa Wilde introduced
me to a very basic risotto dish about 18 years ago, which
became a favourite to make all those years ago, – lemon &
parmesan risotto, (great when there is nothing in the fridge
at home) and featured on our dinner menu with lamb
shortloin, rolled in parsley and mint for a long time. At
the restaurant I have always tried to make our risottos
interesting and inventive, but simple and delicious, creamy
and oozy. Some of the best flavour combinations like
asparagus with gremolata crumbs, chard and cheddar, sorrel
risotto served with pan-fried fish, to name but a few. We
have added salads on top; such has watercress and goat’s
cheese, or dressed radicchio to add another dimension.
Yesterday in a cookbook shopping frenzy buying 5 new
cookbooks I discovered Vegetables from an Italian garden…a
Phaidon book. What a beautiful book – season by season
recipes truly understanding and respecting seasonal greens,
something we always try to do at Flo’s treating each
ingredient with respect, no ingredient more important than
the other. Anyway I came across a risotto recipe – fennel,
gruyere & pink peppercorns, that sounds like dinner tonight
I said to myself, with a big bowl of freshly made chicken
stock in the fridge, but I couldn’t resist slightly
changing the recipe and served it with the last red butter
crunch from the garden, adding fennel tops and young celery
leaves to make an interesting salad. Here’s my version.

Marc’s in-sight into WOW2011 World of Wearable Arts is
here once again, yet this year 3 weeks, for us WOW is
buisier than Xmas…. its intense and a lot of fun.....a
true thrillBrunch service is fast, and we accommodate on a
first come – first served basis we don’t take bookings,
unless you’re a larger group. A handy hint is to avoid
meeting on the hour or ½ an hour, arrange to meet slightly
before, then your first in line for a table. We love WOW….
but hate table rage…. my advise, relax, enjoy, we are
going to look after you. If we are full, we will start you
of at the bar with coffee or a glass of something stronger,
try our French white peach nectar and
bubbly…delicious.Dinner service – my advice, come in for
a 5pm/5.30pm dinner; let us know that your heading to the
show, we will book you a cab, if you wish. I think it’s a
good idea to be down at the arena before the show, they have
so much pre show entertainment going on which is great to
watch with a glass of vino in hand…but don’t forget to
go to the loo, before you head in.We have some great product
for sale…our famous Raspberry Jam, which our beloved Ailsa
labels with her fine gold writing, and Morning Noon and
Night (The Floriditas Cookbook) by myself and Julie $55,
which includes a $20 floriditas gift voucher, for your next
visit.Look forward to seeing you all, any special requests
flick me a email.Enjoy the showMarc